Review: A Promise Kept by Robin Lee Hatcher

January 29, 2014

God was going to save her marriage, Allison was sure of it. But neither her husband nor her marriage had been saved.

What had become of His promise?

Tony Kavanagh had been Allison’s dream-come-true. They were in love within days, engaged within weeks, married and pregnant within a year. Her cup bubbled over with joy . . . but years later, that joy had been extinguished by unexpected trials.

The day Allison issued her husband an ultimatum, she thought it might save him. She never expected he would actually leave. She was certain God had promised to heal; it was clear that she’d misunderstood.

Now living in the quiet mountain cabin she inherited from her single, self-reliant Great Aunt Emma, Allison must come to terms with her grief and figure out how to adapt to small town life. But when she finds a wedding dress and a collection of journals in Emma’s attic, a portrait of her aunt emerges that takes Allison completely by surprise: a portrait of a heartbroken woman surprisingly like herself.

As Allison reads the incredible story of Emma’s life in the 1920s and 1930s, she is forced to ask a difficult question: Does she really surrender every piece of her life to the Lord? For a woman accustomed to being someone else’s savior, that will be even harder than it sounds.

Drawing from her own heart-wrenching story of redemption, A Promise Kept is Robin Lee Hatcher’s emotionally charged thanksgiving to a God who answers prayers—in His own time and His own ways.

With heartbreaking reality that 50% of marriages ending in divorce, it is unlikely that you are or someone close to you has not been personally affected by the emotional trauma that is inherent to the process. In her latest contemporary fiction novel, A Promise Kept, Robin Lee Hatcher reveals her personal story of divorce after years of marriage to an alcoholic and eventual reconciliation. While the book is not a complete parallel to her own testimony, the fundamental lesson and message of hope is the same. Hatcher’s vulnerability and transparency are evident on each page, making a heart-to-heart connection with her readers through Allison and Emma.

Alternating between Emma and Allison’s points of view in the past and present, both women are confronted with the realization that following God’s urges of the heart and trusting in His promises often results in a future unexpected, yet still full of grace. Together their stories create a whole but I do wish that that there had been more development of the individual storylines, especially since the story covers a year time span and the conclusion was quite sudden. Certainly Robin Lee Hatcher’s most emotional and personal story to date that will resonate in the hearts and circumstances of many.

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